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Martin Wesley-Smith's 2009 BLOG |
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an incomplete and opinionated ramble through miscellaneous events, performances etc of 2009 ...
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Thursday December 31 2009:
Have been busy of late, what with Christmas and all. My Mum, Sheila, is back home from hospital after her most recent heart attack, much weaker than before and needing a higher level of care. What little time there has been for the internet has largely been consumed by the blog that regularly updates her friends and family on the state of her health ...
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I recently received a request from a new vocal group for a copy of my a cappella vocal piece Several Australian Conservation Songs. I emailed back a couple of the songs: Billiards (or The Elderly Elephant) and Freddie the Fish, receiving this response: "... we're probably going to be erring towards a more serious palette than these pieces suggest. They look fun, just probably not what the group's going to be interested in pursuing." Fair enough. Each to her own. But these songs, which are concerned with urgent conservation issues, are as "serious" as any piece I've ever done. I suspect that they were rejected because their musical idiom is not regarded as "serious" i.e. it's tonal, with hummable melodies. It seems to me that the choice of idiom is pertinent to the effectiveness of the communication. In these cases, where communication of the words and their meaning is the most important thing, I thought that wrapping powerful lyrics within beguiling pieces of music might have the desired effect.
Check out Billiards here.
A review of the film Avatar by commentator and musician Gilad Atzmon concludes:
If the film's director, James Cameron, wanted to get his message across to as many people as possible, then one way was to choose an idiom that most people were familiar with and enjoyed. This is not to say that a new unfamiliar idiom would not have been as effective - perhaps even more so - as the blockbuster action format that I gather the film employs (I haven't yet seen it), but I assume that the high cost of a major Hollywood film discourages experimentation in idiom. Judging from the reaction to the film, it successfully conveys a message that is far more important to humanity than any argument about any filmic aspect. I don't discourage a vocal group from wanting to explore a particular idiom, say - far from it - but I reject the notion that a conventional idiom is necessarily not "serious".
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Once again, John Pilger tells it how it is, this time in relation to Afghanistan, in Welcome to Orwell's World 2010. And David Michael Green, in an article called Well, That Sure Sucked: Good Riddance To The Devil's Decade, looks back at the past decade in American politics and hopes that the next one will be better. An excerpt:
If there was one bright spot, it was the seeming recognition by the American public that this full glory of regressive politics was a fairly horrifying prospect to behold, once stripped by a sufficient dose of reality immersion to reveal the truth behind the marketing slogans. Americans seemed to finally come to their senses just a bit, and decide that the thirteenth century was best left in the history books, after all.
But then along came Barack Obama to provide the fitting end to it all. Crushing any sense of possible recovery or redemption (and even his own presidency) on the altar of perpetual obedience to corporate predation, he has now made the decade complete in every way. Not only has he abandoned any meaningful solutions for the multiple crises he inherited, he has absolved by silence the folks who produced those very catastrophes. No, strike that. He has more than absolved them, he has revivified them.
[more]
May the second decade of the 21st century be a lot better than the first. My best wishes to all.
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Saturday December 19 2009:
An article of mine - about choral music, with particular attention to my 1979 piece Who Killed Cock Robin? - has been published on-line by The Australian Music Centre. To read it, click here.
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Tuesday December 15 2009:
Last weekend The Thirsty Night Singers premiered Songs of the Dispossessed - words by Peter Wesley-Smith, music by me - in concerts in Canberra and Yass (the David Pereira Cello Series 2009). From my point of view - from my point of hearing - the performances went pretty well. I will now tidy up the piece a bit and put it out there.
While I was away our dog, Flash, was bitten by a snake. He was rushed to hospital and given anti-venom, which seems to have done the trick 'cos he has now largely recovered. We're told, however, that he might have sustained some liver damage.
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Tuesday December 8 2009:
In the early hours of this morning my 93-year-old Mum, Sheila, had another mild heart attack (she had one back in July), and is now in Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital in Nowra. She's tenaciously hanging on to life, although she's at peace with the world and ready to move on. Updates are being published on the Sheila blog.
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On Friday December 18 The Song Company will be doing its Christmas concert, which includes "modern gems from Australian composer Martin Wesley-Smith", in Newcastle, New South Wales. For details, click here.
A friend of mine heard the program somewhere else. She wrote:
The Elderly Elephant (also called Billiards) is one of Peter's and my Conservation Songs.
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From Great Cello Recital in The Grenfell Record (New South Wales), December 2 2009:
The remaining three pieces were by Australian composers Ross Edwards, Martin Wesley-Smith and Carl Vine - all accompanied by prerecorded sounds on CD. These sounds ranged from effects such as running water to amazing sea-gull effects on cello. This music was amongst the most progressive material presented at any Grenfell Music Club concert but the musical effects were always interesting and often very beautiful.
My piece: Welcome to the Hotel Turismo, for cello & CD (2000), which is about the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, 1975-1999.
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If you are into things Snarkish, check out this website by Mahendra Singh, in Montreal, Quebec, an "illustrator busily fitting Lewis Carroll into a protosurrealist straitjacket with matching dada cufflinks".
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Friday December 4 2009:
The latest on-line article - Meet the Commanded-in-Chief or Victory at Last! Monty Python in Afghanistan - by American pundit Tom Engelhardt, publisher of TomDispatch.com), contains this:
[more]
As I see it, Nobel Peace Prize-winning U.S. President Obama has so far proved to be a profound disappointment. Such hope! Such a blow when that hope was dashed ...
from an excellent article called A Death Warrant for the Future, by Chris Floyd:
[more]
It has been claimed, by Obama's National Security Adviser General James Jones, that there are "fewer than a hundred al Qaeda in Afghanistan". Thus Obama's new surge will mean that one al Qaeda fighter equates to one thousand U.S. soldiers and $300 million (see here).
Meanwhile, America's lap-dog Australia continues to contribute to this empire-building in a country that has been called the graveyard of empires.
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Thursday December 3 2009:
Australian composer Katia Tiutiunnik, who was a student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music when I taught there in the 90s, has written a book called The Symbolic Dimension: An Exploration of the Compositional Process, which I went to Amazon.com to buy (it's not, as far as I know, available locally). It's a paperback, but its price is a whopping USD118 - far too much for a poor old composer like me! I'm now gunna hope it's in my Christmas stocking when I wake up on Dec 25.
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It never rains but it pours: at 7.30pm on Friday Dec 11, in Canberra, two concerts will each include music of mine: 1. the first performance of Songs of the Dispossessed by David Pereira and friends, Wesley Music Centre, 20 National Circuit, Forrest (click here for details); and 2. animal songs of mine on A Free Range Christmas, presented by The Song Company.
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Wednesday December 2 2009:
A good article in yesterday's Information Clearing House email newsletter: Iraq: The War Was Illegal, by Brian Brady. This originally appeared in Britain's The Independent newspaper, November 29 2009. It claims that "then Attorney General Goldsmith was 'pinned to the wall and bullied into keeping quiet' while the (then) Prime Minister (Tony Blair) kept the Cabinet in the dark":
But Mr Blair refused to accept Lord Goldsmith's advice and instead issued instructions for his long-term friend to be "gagged" and barred from cabinet meetings, the newspaper claimed. Lord Goldsmith apparently lost three stone, and complained he was "more or less pinned to the wall" in a No 10 showdown with two of Mr Blair's most loyal aides, Lord Falconer and Baroness Morgan. Mr Blair also allegedly failed to inform the Cabinet of the warning, fearing an "anti-war revolt".
Lord Goldsmith allegedly threatened to resign over the issue, but was "bullied" into backing down. He eventually issued carefully drafted qualified backing for the invasion.
[more]
Apparently poor Mr Blair is upset that some of the evidence given so far has been potentially damaging to his reputation:
An ICH reader called Cheshire Cat - comments:
David Hannaford writes:
Molly writes:
Bush, Blair, Howard etc are responsible for far more deaths than Saddam was. I'm opposed to capital punishment, but I think I would be prepared to make an exception in the case of these three blatant liars. Joe writes: "my wish is to see war criminal(s) bush blair and co. hang like they did to saddam."
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Yesterday's deposing of Australian Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull causes one to shake one's head in disbelief. Turnbull is the only sitting member of the Coalition with even half a brain, and is a strong supporter of the need to take positive action, urgently, on climate change. His replacement, ex-Health Minister Tony Abbott, will surely bring further electoral disaster to the conservative side of Australian politics.
On Tuesday February 8 2005 my grandson, Bassy, was mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald's Column 8:
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Andrew Ford's eulogy for composer Richard Meale can be read here.
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Saturday November 28 2009:
Cellist Rachel Scott has put a couple of things of mine onto her myspace site: Intervention 1, with soprano Nicole Thomson, and Andy's Gone with Cattle Now. To go to the site, click here. Rachel and flautist Sally Walker recently performed an instrumental version of Intervention 1 - the piece that critic Geoffrey Gartner described as "nothing more than an academic counterpoint exercise" (see here) - on a concert they gave for the Robertson Village Music Society at St John's Christian Centre, Meryla St, Robertson.
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Tuesday November 24 2009:
If you're gonna be in Sydney this coming Friday November 27, go see the film Forgotten Bird of Paradise, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Hall, 37 St John's Rd Glebe. The film was directed, filmed (inside West Papua, secretly), and produced by Dominic Brown [U.K.]. This is the first and currently only scheduled showing in full in Australia.
Before that, at 1.15pm on Friday, Richard Meale's funeral will be held in the Northern Chapel, Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney.
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Monday November 23 2009:
Outstanding Australian composer Richard Meale died this morning, aged 77. He was a pianist, and conductor, and the supervisor of my master's degree at the University of Adelaide.
Later:
"He changed the face of Australian music," said the composer Peter Sculthorpe. "In the 1960s, more than anyone he made Australia aware of the music of Europe that was being written at that time." [more]
Richard is the second of my composition teachers to die this year, the first being Peter Tahourdin, who moved on in July.
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I'm a fan of musician and writer Gilad Atzmon. In his latest article, As the Light onto the Nations, published in yesterday's Information Clearing House, he writes:
I would advise both the Israeli official and Admiral Di Paola to slightly curb their enthusiasm. The IDF didn't win a single war since 1967. Yes, it murdered many civilians, it flattened many cities, it starved millions, it has been committing war crimes on a daily basis for decades and yet, it didn't win a war. Thus, the IDF cannot really teach NATO how to win in Afghanistan. If NATO generals are stupid enough to follow IDF tactics, like the Israeli generals, they will start to see the charges of war crimes pile up against them. They may even be lucky enough to share their cells with some Israelis in due course, once justice is performed.
[more]
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On the domestic front, we've recently installed a 75,000 litre water tank to provide water [a] for the garden, and [b] to help protect the house should we find ourselves threatened by a bushfire. The bushfire season has started already, with fierce heat, high winds and low humidity contributing to many fires across New South Wales, including one the other day at Upper Kangaroo River. We are in an area of, mainly, rainforest that is generally resistant to fire. But in extreme conditions, no-one's safe, hence the need to do what we can to protect ourselves.
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I've come across an article about my work as a composer in Wikipedia. To read it, click here.
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Last Saturday night I went to see a production of Alex Buzo's classic play Norm & Ahmed in the Pavilion in Kiama: excellent performances by Laurence Coy and Craig Meneaud in a work that is still powerful even though in some ways it has dated since it was first performed in, I think, the 70s. It's to do with the intolerance and violence not far below the surface of many Australians. It was a production by The Alex Buzo Company (Aarne Neeme, director; Emma Buzo, producer; Steve Holland/Robert Nixon, lighting & sound). On the same bill: The Stones, devised and performed by Tom Lycos and Stefan Nantsou. This was an ingenious tour de force: very theatrical, and at times very funny, yet posing difficult questions about juvenile justice. The capacity audience gave the performers a standing ovation. A Zeal Theatre production. Both plays were presented in association with Christ Church Kiama.
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Sunday November 15 2009:
On November 6, Australian journalist John Pilger was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize. In his acceptance speech at the Sydney Opera House, he described the "unique features" of political silence in Australia: how it affects the way Australians see the world and are manipulated by great power "which speaks through an invisible government of propaganda that subdues and limits our political imagination and ensures we are always at war - against our own first people and those seeking refuge, or in someone else's country". To read the speech, click here.
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For those who know my old Mum, Sheila, who is 93 with a dicky heart, I am regularly publishing updates re her health on the Sheila blog. As a result of a heart attack a few months ago, she now has a weakened heart and consequent lethargy and breathlessness. But she's being well looked-after here, is comfortable, and mostly enjoys life despite frustration at not being able to work in the kitchen or the garden.
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Monday November 09 2009:
When the United Nations establishes a fact-finding mission on the recent conflict in Gaza, it is conducted by "one of the world's most widely respected jurists (Judge Richard Goldstone), with an impeccable record of wisdom, honesty and integrity ... a devout Jew (who) has long been known as a fervent defender of Israel's right to peace and security" (Jimmy Carter), it issues a report claiming that both sides are guilty of crimes against humanity, and my country votes against referring this report to the Security Council, I conclude that [a] there is no hope for justice, peace, truth or rational debate in this world, and [b] Australia's Labor Government, and its Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, are little better than the conservatives they replaced. If the report you commission doesn't say what you want it to say, suppress it, calling its author a self-hating Jew. Toady up to the United States, which also voted against the resolution. Then stand back and do nothing to help the Gazans as they face another winter in their devastated cities. Carter writes:
Who are the terrorists here?
In an article titled The Evil Empire, Paul Craig Roberts writes:
The Goldstone Report is on the table. Why not discuss it? If the Australian government has evidence that casts doubt on the report then let's see it. Is there any reason to believe that Goldstone might have fabricated evidence in order to make false accusations against Israelis? Let's discuss, openly and honestly - how else will peace ever be achieved in the Middle East?
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Sunday November 08 2009:
Yesterday's Mass "to pray for all Timorese dead, and for the Australian soldiers who served and died in Timor and those who have died since" at the Mary MacKillop Chapel in North Sydney went well, apparently (I couldn't be there). Cellist Rachel Scott said that her and soprano Nicole Thomson's performance of The Fighters Who Fell "went down incredibly well ..." Someone else wrote: "Nicole Thomson and Rachel Scott did wonderful justice to your fine piece ... It was very moving really, two fine musicians presenting a most evocative piece, honouring the Timorese (and the Australians) with such fine poetry and music." A new arrangement of that song is being included in my Songs of the Dispossessed, a piece for choir and cello that will be performed in Canberra next month.
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Last night I went to see some local kids' theatre: Jabberwock, a play written, directed and designed by Sarah Butler. The stars of the show included Indy Nutter, Sophie McGregor, Candice McGregor, Jessie Stapleton, Danny Thomas, Maxwell Warren and Samantha Warren. I know how much work goes into a show like that. And one could see on the kids' faces how much benefit, and fun, they derived from it. In fact they will probably remember it for the rest of their lives, with some being inspired to develop their creative impulses to a much higher level, as a result, as they grow up. Sarah's stone will set off ripples that will be felt for many years hence.
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Tuesday November 03 2009:
In Sunday night's 60 Minutes, Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman for Indonesia, and reporter Liam Bartlett were discussing the Balibo Five:
LB: And if you were wrong?
TF: Well...
LB: That means an Indonesian, one of your countrymen, is a murderer.
TF: War is war. To be killed in the crossfire in the line of war, it's a risk that anyone can happen. It's...
LB: War is not war, sir, when those men were killed walking down the middle of the street with their hands in the air.
TF: That's the understanding of your side.
My understanding is that if you declare war then war conditions apply. But Indonesia sent a clandestine force to invade East Timor without declaring war, pretending that the invaders were disaffected Timorese. Therefore war conditions do not apply, and Indonesia cannot get away with lamely repeating the mantra that bad things happen during wars. But even during war, the Geneva Conventions state that journalists and other non-combatants must not be targets - hence Indonesia's "killed in crossfire" lie despite ample evidence to the contrary.
The reason that the journalists were there was to expose the truth; the point of killing them was to stop the the truth getting out. Many people, including Australia's ambassador at the time, Richard Woolcott, play "blame the victim" by saying that the journalists should not have been there. But without journalists covering hot spots, how will we discover the truth? And without that, how can we make good foreign policy?
If all this had been properly investigated at the time, perhaps Indonesia would have been dissuaded from its full-scale invasion in December 1975, and over 200,000 East Timorese lives would not have been sacrificed. After decades of international appeasement, the Indonesian army, knowing that it can pillage, rape and murder with impunity, runs rampant in places like West Papua. "Terrorists in uniform", to quote Sister Susan Connelly RSJ, who sent the following email today:
Best wishes to all,
What's needed, of course, is justice for all who have died in Timor since 1975 as a result of Indonesia's illegal invasion.
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Sunday November 01 2009:
music and politics 1:
Yesterday's Music Show on ABC Radio National had an on-air discussion, between Andrew Ford and Rob Murray, of my new Tall Poppies CD Merry-Go-Round. You can listen to the discussion, or download an mp3 of it, here (the discussion of my CD starts about half-way through). Note that the website says that after the broadcast date The Music Show keeps audio online for four weeks only.
Here's part of an edited transcript:
AF: "Not in Snark-Hunting"
RM: "Not in Snark-Hunting, but in the other pieces on this ..."
AF: "Especially Merry-Go-Round"
RM: "Merry-Go-Round, which is about Afghanistan .... Stravinsky chose subjects which ideally had no human interest whatsoever, but Martin Wesley-Smith is the opposite: his music abounds in human interest. Sometimes it seems a little bit earnest to me ... I suppose ... that's a terrible thing to say ..."
AF: "It's funny that you say that because the thing that strikes me about Martin Wesley-Smith's political pieces is that he only manages to keep up the earnestness for a certain amount of time before he makes a joke. There are always elements of ... entertainment and fun and something is suddenly turned upside-down and a rabbit is pulled out of a hat, as though he can't help himself, and I find that endearing, I must say, particularly where he's really trying to be serious."
RM: "Yeah, a lot of his pieces are very high-minded indeed, I mean, the series he's done about East Timor especially, and, you know, I think it's very important to make art about those subjects. Whether or not it's something I would want to go and see in a concert and, you know, could whole-heartedly enjoy, I don't know I ..."
AF: "But of course you can listen to the music, particularly on this CD, and you don't have to think about Lewis Carroll, for instance, in the case of Snark-Hunting. But - I think I must've been at the first performance of Snark-Hunting. I certainly heard it played in 1984 by Flederman and it seems that it was composed in 1984 so I guess that was the first time it was performed ... and I remember thinking - I'd just got off the boat from England, and I'd never heard anything like this guy's music, and I was terribly impressed by it because it was so original, and, also, listening to it now, it's so deft ..."
[more (audio)]
I don't think that art is something one necessarily must "whole-heartedly enjoy". In fact it's a bit difficult to imagine anyone whole-heartedly enjoying anything about the situation in East Timor between 1975 and 1999, or about the current situation in Afghanistan, Burma, Gaza, West Papua, Sudan etc etc. But one can be profoundly moved, a far more powerful emotion than whole-heartedly enjoying something. While art can come from anywhere at all, much "good art" (however one defines that) comes from an inner conviction, or a strong emotion, or a fascination with something, be it of "human interest" or not. If it's uncomfortable for its audience, and people like Rob Murray stay away as a consequence, that's the way it has to be. The alternative is self-censorship, which for art is devastating.
I suspect that Australian composer and clarinettist Paul Dean might also wonder about the implication that art should be something one should necessarily "whole-heartedly enjoy":
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music and politics 2:
The savage politics of asylum seekers are once again striding across the Australian landscape, with Prime Minister Rudd determined to be just as tough as his predecessor Howard. A tragedy of the recent past was the sinking, in 2001, of the boat dubbed the SIEV X, resulting in the deaths of 353 asylum seekers en route to Australia in a dilapidated Indonesian fishing boat. Mr Dean has written a piece about it:
[more] (excerpt from Tragedy haunts music, by Cosima Marriner, Sydney Morning Herald, October 10/11 2009)
Not only has that story not been told, it hasn't even been properly investigated. If it were then I suspect that several senior Liberal Party politicians, including Howard himself, would be severely embarrassed, perhaps culpable. They, like Rudd's Labor government now, invoked the politics of fear, with little apparent regard for the human cost.
In appealing for Indonesia's help in order to set up his so-called "Indonesia Solution", Rudd has no doubt [a] bargained away the Australian Federal Police investigation into the deaths of the Balibo Five in 1975, and [b] sold off the legitimate aspirations of indigenous people of West Papua, who these days need our help more than ever.
The Channel Nine program 60 Minutes screens at 7.30pm on Sundays. Tonight there's a report on Balibo by Liam Bartlett, who writes about Australia's relationship with Indonesia (Justice long overdue for murdered Balibo Five) in yesterday's Sunday Times in Perth:
Supposedly, this is the same "relationship" that allows us to donate hundreds of millions of dollars for tsunami relief, build modern hospital facilities and mobilise scores of rescue workers to their earthquake disaster zones. In return, we are not to be openly critical or demand any form of mutual respect. Nor are we to expect any special help in controlling people smugglers and the flow of illegal migrants from their borders to ours.
Most recently this "special relationship" required the payment of some $50 million to use Indonesia's decrepit detention centres. And even then, the Indonesians (were) happy to take the high moral ground.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa put on his happy face for the cameras and argued his country could not possibly consider using force to remove 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers from the Oceanic Viking because "it would breach international law".
Natalegawa really should be the Minister for Comedy. What his countrymen did 34 years ago was to break the most serious of international laws; the Geneva Convention. The execution of five civilians in cold blood demands action, and if Indonesia really wants a relationship it should do everything possible to bring the killers to justice.
There is no reason not to act. Yosfiah is now leader of an Indonesian political party and lives almost three hours from Jakarta. Da Silva lives in West Timor, not far from the border. These men are easy to find and the leaders, Suharto and Whitlam, who turned a blind eye, are long gone. It's time to put it right.
[more]
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Now for something completely different: yesterday someone posted a video of someone playing a version for marimba of my piece White Knight & Beaver, for one or two soloists & tape [1984], on a website called Blog 5. Check it out here.
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Friday October 30 2009:
"It was a major disappointment ..."
I've just seen a review - Australia Ensemble 30 years, dated 9 October 2009 - by Geoffrey Gartner of the recent concert by The Australia Ensemble at which a little piece of mine, Invention 1 (later re-named Intervention 1), was premiered along with several other tribute pieces by other Australian composers. An excerpt:
[more]
There you go: can't win 'em all. I should say, in my defence, that the performers (clarinettist Catherine McCorkill and cellist Julian Smiles) loved it, as did many in the audience. Or so they told me afterwards. Some loved it partly because of its simplicity, as did some who love academic counterpoint exercises (and why not? I mean, what's wrong with academic counterpoint exercises??). Even I liked it (I don't always like my own stuff).
The article is in the excellent on-line magazine Resonate, published by The Australian Music Centre.
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Thursday October 29 2009:
Somehow, inexplicably, I allowed myself to get behind with my tax returns - am now frantically trying to get some done, looking for the myriad of little bits of paper that are essential, apparently, for an ordered and prosperous life. Needless to say, I detest the fact that as a society we put ourselves through a huge effort, every year, that is essentially unproductive, that ties up huge resources, encourages people to cheat, forces everyone to be an accountant, and penalises those whose minds don't work that way. We are all ruled by pieces of paper (in this day and age!) and the need to deal, every day, with that day's accumulation of them. We have a hugely-complicated tax system, and we have commercial television - no wonder people don't have time or energy to be creative, or to think about things too much, to foment revolution ...
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Am working on a piece for choir & cello called Songs of the Dispossessed, which is to be performed in Canberra in December by cellist David Pereira and Kangaroo Valley's Thirsty Night Singers, the group I sing in and direct. For details of the concert, click here (the David Pereira Cello Series 2009) and scroll to the bottom. The piece includes three songs, two previously composed: She Wore a Black Ribbon, about Australia's Stolen Generation, The Fighters Who Fell, about East Timor's struggle for independence, and an arrangement, with a new lyric by Peter Wesley-Smith, of the West Papuan national anthem Hai Tanahku Papua.
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News from the chook pen: Zorro has been broody of late, but three days in solitary confinement in a separate chook house seems to have put an end to such silliness. The others (Baker, Beaver, Chuck, Fluffy and Vera) are happily producing, every day, golden eggs that taste like eggs used to taste. They love the sorrel I planted for them, and the vast quantities that I pick and throw into their pen of what used to be called Wandering Jew (now "trad").
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Today I'm turning over a new leaf!
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Friday October 16 2009:
Have been busy of late on a number of projects and haven't had time to blog. But I couldn't let today go by without pointing out that it is the 34th anniversary of the murder of the Balibo Five in East Timor.
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Peter Cronau posted the following on facebook:
He also wrote:
I responded:
That came from American journalist Ron Susskind (I think). See my piece doublethink, which has been recorded by The Song Company, to be released next year.
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Tuesday October 6 2009:
A telegram that Rob Wesley-Smith sent to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Andrew Peacock, on Dec 1 1975 has recently been unearthed:
To see the whole telegram, click here. A subsequent telegram sent four days later said YOU GET LIMITLESS CONTEMPT IF YOU FAIL TO FOIL INDONESIAN INVASION EAST TIMOR. That's telling 'em! How different things would have been had our politicians listened to our activists and acted according not only to international law but also to principles of common sense and decency. I talked once to an Australian ex-diplomat who said: "The problem is that no-one thought the Indonesian army would behave so badly in East Timor." This only ten years after Suharto and his henchmen murdered up to one million of their fellow countrymen.
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Sunday October 4 2009:
When I was in my early 20s, a vocal and instrumental trio I sang and played in recorded a children's LP - The Wesley Three presents, in story and song, "Banjo the Singing Rabbit" and "Mister Thwump" - that was released on the CBS label. This morning I received a letter from someone in Holland. Excerpts:
I'm not a great fan of what we did back then, but there seems to be quite a bit of interest in it. If I can persuade the Sony Corporation, which now owns the master tapes (if in fact the tapes still exist and are playable), to make them available to me then I will look at making copies for anyone interested.
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Italian flautist Emilio Galante has written an article on my piece Balibo, for flute & CD, for the Italian flute magazine FALAUT. An excerpt:
I do not, I'm afraid, have a URL for the article.
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According to its website, the National Trust's vision is "to live in a community which understands, values and enjoys its heritage; a natural, built and cultural heritage that creates our unique Australian character ..." While I appreciate that its work is mainly about our built heritage, it seems to me that it must also be concerned about other aspects of our cultural heritage, including Australian music. Yet it puts on concerts of excerpts from opera (e.g. a forthcoming concert in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales called "Opera at Golden Vale"), never, as far as I know, including any music by an Australian composer. European opera is part of our cultural heritage. So too is American rock'n'roll and many other musical imports. But the music that contributes most of all to "our unique Australian character" is the music created in Australia by our own composers and musicians ...
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Saturday October 3 2009:
RAIN! For a few months now, we've been wondering if we would ever see the stuff again. Our creek had stopped flowing, there was little or no feed for animals, and we were contemplating having to buy water in order to survive. But yesterday the heavens opened! Mind you, we need a lot more than we've had so far, but the forecast is for more over the next few days, so the situation is looking good. Of course, there's a downside: we can now expect a lot more weeds than we've had so far this Spring, and this morning I found, on my leg, the first leech I've seen for half a year or so ...
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Yesterday my brother Rob (known to many as, simply, Wes) had a birthday. One year ago he spent his birthday in the Intensive Care Unit of Royal Darwin Hospital, having suffered severe brain injuries in a fall. He was not expected, by some, to live, but he seems to have made a complete recovery. A chronicle of his progress in hospital, along with tributes from many admirers of his fight, since 1975, for the East Timorese people, can be read here.
Meanwhile, Rob's 93-year-old mother Sheila hangs on despite having suffered a heart attack a couple of months ago. Despite a weakened heart, and being largely bed-bound, she's generally fairly comfortable and is mostly enjoying life here in Kangaroo Valley. Her progress is being chronicled here. For six years during the 60s, Mum wrote scripts for and presented the Australian Broadcasting Commission's daily radio program Kindergarten of the Air, which went out to millions via Radio Australia.
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If you live in Canberra, the vocal group I sing in and direct, The Thirsty Night Singers, will be singing a new piece for choir and cello, by me, in a concert presented by cellist David Pereira. Performances will be at 7.30pm on Friday December 11, and 3pm Saturday December 12, at the Wesley Music Centre, 20-22 National Circuit, Forrest, and at 3pm Sunday December 13 at Yass Memorial Hall, Comur St, Yass, NSW. Other performers, apart from David himself, will be mezzo-soprano Christina Wilson, pianist Alan Hicks, and cellist James Larsen. The program will include Arvo Part's Fratres, Brahms' Songs, and a new version of Elena Kats-Chernin's Phoenix Story.
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Wednesday September 23 2009:
I got up early this morning and saw a red dawn:
It was not just Kangaroo Valley, then, but Sydney (two hours north) and, probably, most of the rest of New South Wales. How many tonnes of topsoil have been permanently lost? The drought is affecting us even here, where over the past dozen years or so we've been in a "green drought" i.e. we've been getting a lot less rain than we used to get but enough to keep the trees alive and the grass green. Now we're seeing trees being stressed, some dying, animals desperate for food (lack of rain means that Spring growth hasn't started yet), our creek almost ceasing to flow (no-one can remember this ever happening before), and our dam lower than it's ever been, threatening the ten or so fat silver perch still managing to survive in its slimy green water. Today it's relatively cool, with fierce winds blowing the dust away (although our wooden deck still has a sticky red sheen over it). One shudders to think of these conditions in intense heat (we're going into what is predicted to be the worst bushfire season ever) ...
Click on Kate Geraghty's photo of the Sydney Opera House to see a larger version. You can just see the Bridge in the background.
Later: A Lewis Carroll fan, "Having lived through the apocalyptic dust storm that blew fine red dust all over Sydney", wrote: "I now know what the White Knight meant by the wind being as strong as soup!"
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Tuesday September 22 2009:
Last Saturday's Trek for Timor in Kangaroo Valley was a huge success, raising over AUD50K, we think, for a lighting project in Timor-Leste. Emailed comments from participants included the following:
To read more, click here.
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Friday September 18 2009:
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I acquired a coupla more chooks a coupla days ago: Baker and Beaver, to go with Fluffy, Zorro, Vera and Chuck. They are young Isa Browns, just about to start laying.
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Tomorrow the Kangaroo Valley-Remexio Partnership is holding its fund-raising Trek for Timor. See our new website for details.
The original lyric was a poem by Xanana Gusmao, translated from Portuguese by Agio Pereira with assistance from Rob Wesley-Smith. This was "poeticised" by Peter Wesley-Smith. I then set that to a traditional East Timorese melody, originally for a cappella choir then for soprano and singing cellist (Rachel has to play double stops as well as sing an alto part - not easy!)
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Sunday September 13 2009:
Yesterday I went to Sydney to [a] have a deferred Father's Day picnic lunch with my kids in Sydney Park, and [b] go to the Australia Ensemble concert (see below). Went well!
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From an article by Tom Hyland in this morning's The Age newspaper in Melbourne about the Australian Federal Police launching a formal investigation into the murders of five Australian-based journalists in Balibo, East Timor, in October 1975:
The Age's Michelle Grattan agreed, asking if it was wise to ''pick at'' a tragedy from decades ago. She pointed out Indonesia is now a democracy and argued: ''Our national interest won't be particularly served by going down a path that could put our two countries at odds.''
Implicit in this line of argument is that ''national interest'' should take precedence over the independent functions of police and courts. It assumes countries can't atone for events of the past while focusing on the future. And it implies Indonesian democracy is so fragile that powerful men accused of atrocities can't be called to account.
It condones impunity for committing murder.
The same old apologists for appalling behaviour by the Indonesian military are trotting out the same old appeasement line that encouraged atrocities in East Timor. Why should the TNI change its murderous behaviour in West Papua and elsewhere? Pillage, rape, torture and kill as much as you like, boys - we're certainly not going to object.
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Tuesday September 8 2009:
This Saturday the Australia Ensemble will perform a concert that includes a little piece of mine for clarinet (Catherine McCorkill) and cello (Julian Smiles), based on a Minuet in G minor from the first Cello Suite by Bach. Also on the program: music by Beethoven, Goossens and Takemitsu. My piece is one of a series of "miniatures by leading Australian composers", including Ross Edwards, Andrew Ford, Matthew Hindson, Elena Kats-Chernin, Raffaele Marcellino and Peter Sculthorpe, written in tribute to the ensemble's 30th birthday. Enquiries: 02 9385 4874.
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I've recently arranged a couple of songs from East Timor for singing cellist Rachel Scott and soprano Nicole Thomson. I'll shortly be arranging a song, Special Days, written by my late brother Jerry, for soprano and harp. Yesterday I wrote program notes for a CD that includes my piece White Knight & Beaver, performed by trombone virtuoso Michael Mulcahey.
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I received the following email today about the recent concert by Annalisa Kerrigan. Excerpts:
The CD is a lovely addition to our music collection. We've played it several times since the concert, and I'm sorry I didn't purchase Ireland' as well. Annalisa's voice is so beautiful, but as I'm sure you'll agree, nothing can beat a live performance. (We) loved everything about the concert, even though neither of us is of recent Irish lineage. Surely the original accompanists couldn't have surpassed the musicianship of (Michael Tyack) and (Lindsay Martin), who were superb. The warmth and vibrancy of all three musicians seemed to touch everyone in the audience.
Here is what (a friend) had to say: "It was probably the nicest concert I've been to in the Valley in a long time. It was absolutely wonderful. The only disappointment is that a lot of people didn't get to experience it. I thought the two people who accompanied Annalisa were brilliant."
And (another): "I haven't struck anyone who didn't enjoy it. I felt extremely happy afterwards. She's got a glorious voice - I'd rather listen to her than anyone else - Dame Joan eat your heart out! The fiddle player seemed to be accompanying her by watching her breathing. They [Michael and Lindsay] played their part to perfection. And doing that from behind, as the pianist did, was brilliant. I looked at the audience during the performance and everyone was smiling and wrapped. Anyone who wasn't there missed something extremely special. (I don't know if the problem was being on a Sunday.)"
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Today I've been preparing garden beds and planting beans. Tomorrow: sweet corn and sunflowers. I don't have a green thumb, but I think it a crime in this day and age to have access to arable land and not to exploit it, so I'm trying to make my own small contribution by producing organic fruit and vegetables. And eggs. My four chooks - Chuck, Fluffy, Vera and Zorro - are managing just two eggs per day, sometimes three. Not good enough. Any chook thinking she's gonna have a free ride has another think coming ...
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Tuesday September 1 2009:
Today was the first day of Spring. Well, the official first day - we've been in Spring for weeks now, much earlier than normal. This morning I almost stepped on a fat red-bellied black snake, reminding me that snakes have finished their hibernation and are out looking for food. There are bushfires down the coast and, at the same time - and surely this is most unusual - bushfires in the USA and elsewhere. We desperately need rain. Looks like we're in for a long hot summer, with grave risk of bushfire but not a lot of water to fight it with ...
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The Annalisa Kerrigan concert Ireland, that I put on last Sunday afternoon in Kangaroo Valley Hall, was pure joy! She's a wonderful performer, with an expressive face that reflects every word she sings. She has a huge range - of pitch, volume and expression - and superb control, able to sing high and soft, say, while maintaining smooth tone. I listened with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye: the smile from the sheer quality of what I was hearing, and the tear from the songs, many of which we used to sing around the piano when I was a kid. My grandparents on my father's side were Irish, so there were some deep connections being made. Lovely stuff. Annalisa's musicians - Michael Tyack, piano, and Lindsay Martin, fiddle - were excellent as both accompanists and soloists. An audience member wrote:
From a friend and singer:
I would love to bring Annalisa back to Kangaroo Valley, but [a] for some inexplicable reason we failed to attract a large enough audience to pay all the bills, [b] there are many other excellent musicians our audience would love, and [c] I'm actually trying to stop putting on concerts so that I can get on with other things ...
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Last week I presented my audio-visual piece Merry-Go-Round at a concert in Sydney by Charisma (Ros Dunlop, clarinets, David Miller, piano, and Julia Ryder, cello; guest artist: jazz pianist Judy Bailey). Went well.
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On Monday night I helped out at a performance of a collaborative multimedia performance event at SCEGGS Redlands, a secondary school in Sydney. Called The Tap is Dripping, it was a series of musical compositions exploring issues to do with water and the lack of it (drought, fire, flood, death, life, waterboarding etc etc), with images, dance etc. My role over the past few months has been "mentor". The co-ordinator - Struan Smith, a student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music when I taught there in the 70s - did a great job getting it all together. This event will, I hope, be the first of many.
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Monday August 24 2009:
In Sydney on Wednesday night the group Charisma is doing a concert at the Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, that includes my audio-visual piece Merry-Go-Round, about Afghanistan. Charisma is Ros Dunlop, clarinets, David Miller, piano, and Julia Ryder, cello; guest artist: jazz pianist Judy Bailey, who is having a new work performed. Other works are by D'Rivera, Gould, Ingham, Lowenstern and Tajcevic. For bookings, call 02 9351 7940.
Merry-Go-Round, for clarinet, cello & computer [2002], is not one of my in-yer-face political pieces. It gently makes the blindingly-obvious point that Afghanistan has not been successfully invaded for 2000 years and it's unlikely that the current invasion - by the USA, with Australia, Britain etc - will be any more successful. But its main focus is on the people and their landscape, using photographs by George Gittoes.
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Last Friday night the little choir I sing in and direct - The Thirsty Night Singers - recorded the choral parts of my piece Seven Widows at the Gates of Sugamo, for seven singing female harpists and choir. Went well! The piece will be released next year on a SHE CD (Tall Poppies).
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At 2.30pm next Sunday (August 30) in Kangaroo Valley Hall, I'm putting on a concert featuring soprano Annalisa Kerrigan and her accompanists Michael Tyack, piano, and Lindsay Martin, fiddle with a program of Irish songs called Ireland; enquiries, tickets: call 02 4465 1299. Profits from this will go to The Kangaroo Valley-Remexio Partnership, which supports projects in Timor-Leste.
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Friday August 21 2009:
The Robert Connolly film Balibo is attracting a lot of attention, not just to itself but also to the 1975 murders in Balibo, East Timor, of five journalists working for Australian news outlets. Those who wish to deflect criticism of the Australian and Indonesian governments, and of the Indonesian army, are taking the line that parts of the film are not historically accurate, implying that you can't believe what it says. Even those on the other side of the ideological fence, such as John Pilger, deplore the script not including "The Australian government's complicity in the journalists' murder" (see Pilger's article Cover-Up: A Film's Travesty of Omissions). I'm usually a great fan of Pilger, but not of his point of view here: any film has to work as a film if people are going to watch it - if by the inclusion of every facet of the story the film becomes boring and/or didactic, then no-one's interests are served, least of all Pilger's. Balibo does not deny Australian government complicity. It implies it, in fact, allowing the truth to come out in the discussion, both private and public, that inevitably follows a film like this. Pilger's attack on the film gives grist to the mill of those he normally attacks.
Molly, a respondent to Pilger's article in Information Clearing House, writes:
Another respondent, XO, disagrees:
The world needs Pilger and others like him. It also needs people like Connolly and the film's star, co-producer and financial backer Anthony LaPaglia. Pilger's own films, excellent though they are, rarely get cinema releases or television showings, so his message gets to relatively few people. Balibo, on the other hand, will be shown in many parts of the world; thus its message, which is basically the same as Pilger's, is likely to have far greater reach and, potentially, effect.
See the discussion here. My contributions are under the pseudonym caterpillar.
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My new chamber music CD, Merry-Go-Round, is now available for purchase from the Tall Poppies Records website. The blurb there says:
The Australia Ensemble has been performing Wesley-Smith's music for many years, and it is with enormous pleasure that Tall Poppies has recorded and released this, the first ever CD devoted to his chamber music.
The recording was funded by the Australia Council.
Catalogue number: TP200
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Thursday August 20 2009:
At 10.12am today, The Australian Senate passed the following motion on West Papua, put up by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of The Australian Greens:
Yo! Nothing will happen, of course. The Government will either ignore the motion, or it will say the equivalent of "Begging your pardon, but do you think that at some time down the track you might consider thinking about the possibility that you might perhaps allow someone from the International Red Cross a brief visit to West Papua?"
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Tuesday August 18 2009:
Composer Barry Conyngham has written a very warm appreciation of my first composition teacher, the late Peter Tahourdin, that was published in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald. The Australian Music Centre has published it on-line:
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Monday August 17 2009:
The silent movie shows I put on last Friday and Saturday nights with pianist Robert Constable were a great success. See here. Someone wrote about the Kangaroo Valley show: "(It) was a great success and Robert seems to be enjoying it still, how great is that? I enjoyed Neighbours just as much the second time, I had to tone down my laughter because I think I was louder than those around me ..." Another wrote: "I thought it all went swimmingly, and it was obviously greatly enjoyed by the audience. I'm still chuckling at the memory of the 3-storeys-high-people-towers lurching from side to side in the adjoining yards [in Neighbours], and at the girlfriend 'rowing' Buster away from the cannibals [in The Navigator], to mention just a few of the highlights ... Robert's skill continues to amaze me ..." Robert not only does an excellent job but he donates his services to the Kangaroo Valley-Remexio Partnership, a local group that sets up and sponsors assistance projects in East Timor. Over the past seven years he has helped us raise thousands of dollars for various projects, including sponsoring young people from Remexio to go to teachers' colleges, trade schools etc.
After the show on Saturday night, the choir I sing in and direct - The Thirsty Night Singers - sang a few numbers at a party. Emailed reactions included "Your choir sang very well, it is just getting better and better and you certainly have some solid fans ...", "I heard raves about the choir", and "Your choir were fantastic - I actually felt happy but sad thinking about what people miss out on when they don't hold onto a sense of community in ways like this ... it was really inspiring to see the people of KV coming together in song. Loved the Ink Spots number and the way everyone had a chance to 'shine'". We'll never be a great group, but we all enjoy it a lot and, yes, we are improving, bit by bit. We're soon going to be adding choral parts to the recording of my piece Seven Widows at the Gates of Sugamo, for seven singing female harpists and choir.
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I've sold all the discounted copies of the Merry-Go-Round CD of my chamber music that I had. I may have some more in a while - watch this space.
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This afternoon I noticed that a rosella (a parrot) had somehow got into our new chook yard and was flying around unable to find its way out. I had something urgent to do, so I did that then went back to try to release it. I saw a big bird of prey - possibly a brown falcon - standing on the ground next to the yard looking hungrily, so I thought, at the chooks. But it soon transpired that the rosella, in trying to escape, had got itself caught in the netting, attracting the falcon, which flew down for a feast. By the time I arrived, the falcon had killed the hapless rosella through the netting and eaten its head.
Talking of chooks, the other day I bought two more, giving us four: our original two, Fluffy and Zorro, and, now, Vera and Chuck. They took a while to sort out their pecking order, resulting in Chuck losing a lot of her chest feathers (chooks can be quite vicious to each other), but they seem to have settled down now. I want to have, eventually, ten or a dozen of 'em and a rooster (Dave?) to keep them in line ...
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Monday August 10 2009:
I have a few pre-release copies of the new Australia Ensemble CD of some of my chamber music (Merry-Go-Round, Tall Poppies Records TP200) which I will sell, at a discounted price, by mail order, to the first few people who email me. Get in quick!
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My old Mum, Sheila, continues to defy her doctor's prognosis that her heart has "had it": she's well, comfortable, and starting to get around the house using her four-wheel walker, getting valuable exercise. I've set up a website that gives regular health updates - see www.wesley-smith.info/sheila.html.
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This weekend I'm putting on two silent movie showings featuring live piano-playing of Robert Constable:
At 2pm the following day (Sun Aug 16), percussionist Claire Edwardes gives a solo recital in the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre in Nowra, her program including pieces by Australian composers Gerry Brophy and Andrew Ford; enquiries: 4464 2245.
Two weekends later - at 2.30pm on Sunday August 30 in Kangaroo Valley Hall - I'm putting on soprano Annalisa Kerrigan with a program of Irish songs called Ireland; enquiries, tickets: call 02 4465 1299. Profits from this, and from the two Keaton film shows, will go to The Kangaroo Valley-Remexio Partnership, which supports projects in Timor-Leste. For information about our fund-raising Trek for Timor on September 19, visit our new website here.
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Last week we were able, with the help of two WWOOFers, to finish building a large chook pen within our covered garden and to move in my two chooks, Fluffy and Zorro: contented chooks laying contented eggs! Next week, after the film shows, I plan to plant vegetables, strawberries, fruit trees, sunflowers etc (it's an early Spring here) and get more chooks.
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Monday August 3 2009:
Today would have been James Easton's 65th birthday, had he survived the motor neurone disease that took his life a few years ago. He was a friend and colleague of mine and an excellent and under-rated pianist, arranger, composer, and electronics technician. His legacy includes three talented children, including Madeleine, currently in Australia as guest Concertmaster of the Brandenburg Orchestra. James's death was a great loss to Australian music.
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Wednesday July 29 2009:
My Mum, Sheila Wesley-Smith, has not been well of late (see below). But she seems now to be making a full recovery! She dozed yesterday morning after a fairly sleepless night, had chicken soup for lunch, dozed again, got up to have some dinner in front of the fire, then slept all night till 8 o'clock this morning. She's looking and sounding well and is in good spirits, although she's choosing to stay in bed for a while (malingering, no doubt). Almost back to normal!
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If you live in Sydney, a date for your diary: 8pm Wednesday August 26, at the Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre: Charisma (Ros Dunlop, clarinets, and Julia Ryder, cello) plays my audio-visual piece about Afghanistan, Merry-Go-Round. Also on the program: a new work by Judy Bailey, who will also play piano, Preludio y Merengue by D'Rivera, Benny's Gig by Gould, Triple Concerto by Steve Ingham, Seven Balkan Dances by Tajcevic and Drift by Lowenstern. Tickets: $30, $20, $10 (includes supper); bookings: 02 9351 7940 (email). Pianist David Miller is also part of Charisma.
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Talking of Merry-Go-Round, I took delivery this morning of a pre-release copy of a new chamber music CD of that name that's about to be released by Tall Poppies Records (TP200). The performers are The Australia Ensemble (Geoffrey Collins, flute, Dimity Hall, violin, Catherine McCorkill, clarinet, Irina Morozova, viola, Ian Munro, piano, Dene Olding, violin, and Julian Smiles, cello) with guest artist Timothy Constable, percussion. Other pieces on this all-Wesley-Smith disk include db, for flute, clarinet, piano, cello & CD (1991), Snark-Hunting, for flute, percussion, piano & cello (1984), Oom Pah Pah, for flute & piano (1996), and two movements of fin/début - tick tock, in which Phyllis Rides Aristotle and pp (Farewell to the Hotel Turismo) - for flute, clarinet, piano & string quartet (2000). Watch this space for release and ordering details.
Later: I've been listening to it - some of it ain't bad! Brilliant playing, of course, as we expect from The Australia Ensemble, and quite a lot of music I'm more-or-less happy with. There's some that makes me cringe, though. Inevitable, I s'pose. Them's the breaks.
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Pat Mahony, a member of AWPA (The Australian West Papua Association), has a written a Letter to the Editor that may, or may not, be published in The Sydney Morning Herald:
The shootings are apparently an outcome of competition among security forces for the very lucrative work of "protection" of the Freeport mine. The military (TNI) lost the contract, and it has now gone to private security operators. So the TNI has the motive, the means (as shown by bullet fragments in the victims' bodies) and the form. The same situation applied to the deaths of two American teachers in the area in 2002. If it were not a cover-up, how would one explain that the bullets that killed Drew Grant had been dug out of his body? How long will we allow our government to continue its supine appeasement of the Indonesian military as it rapes and pillages one of our near neighbours?
Pat Mahony
I've seen Balibo: not only is it a brilliantly-made film, but it's going to put yet more pressure on the Australian and Indonesian governments to provide justice for the relatives of the six newsmen murdered by Indonesian troops in their invasion of East Timor in 1975 (not that any amount of pressure has made any difference in the past ...)
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Tuesday July 28 2009:
Originally English, Peter was a conservative composer whose music was elegant and finely-crafted. In the late 60s he took himself off to the University of Toronto to study electronic music. He then came back and established Australia's first electronic music course, opening up, for me, a world that I could never have accessed had I stayed with acoustic instruments. I will be forever grateful to him for the opportunities and encouragement he gave me as a young composer. I now look forward to catching up with the pieces of his that I don't know.
For more information about Peter, who last year turned 80, click here.
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from an email from Liz Watson, of the Watson Piano Duo, about performing my piece Brother Jack:
Details are:
Please find concert info attached, and feel free to inform any Parisian friends who may be interested ... we are looking forward to playing Brother Jack again - so much fun!!
My Parisian friends (where are you, Ged?) should consider themselves invited! Liz and Sarah form a marvellous duo that plays Brother Jack with precision and humour. See/hear their performance on YouTube here. Their blurb says: "Martin Wesley-Smith's witty take on the French children's song Frère Jacques, alias Brother Jack, is full of jazzy harmonies, quirky rhythms and subtle humour. It is a perfect illustration of the French-Australian theme of this exciting piano program ..." They may be contacted here.
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The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) in the US says "Don't Train Indonesia's Deadly Kopassus":
(please spread the word!)
Indonesia's Special Forces (Kopassus), more than any other in the Indonesian military, stands accused by the Indonesian people of some of the most egregious human rights violations.
The history of Kopassus human rights violations, its criminality and its unaccountability before Indonesian courts extends back decades and includes human rights and other crimes in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere. The crimes of Kopassus are not only in the past. A recently published Human Rights Watch report details ongoing Kopassus human right violations in West Papua.
In 2008, the Bush administration proposed to restart U.S. training of Kopassus. The State Department legal counsel reportedly ruled that the ban on training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole.
See the letter signed by more than 50 U.S. organizations opposing training for Kopassus. See here for additional background about the crimes of Kopassus.
Please sign the petition!
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Cellist Rachel Scott recently went to Timor-Leste with Ros Dunlop and others to put on some concerts, to work with kids in a school in Bessilau, and to attend the official opening by President José Ramos-Horta of Hadahur (a music school in Dili set up by the Mary MacKillop Mission to East Timor). Click here for a full report. Here are excerpts from Rachel's account:
The teachers are incredibly excited - and extremely grateful. They have agreed to teach the children as best as they can, and to also arrange performances for other schools. We have proved that music surpasses all language barriers, and cultural barriers ...
The children learnt very quickly - and this can only help other areas of their learning - problem solving, memory, gross and fine motor skill development. Another thing this programme has developed is the children's sense of self-esteem - something that is sadly lacking with these little people, and something I am so pleased to have increased. This alone is invaluable. I cannot truly express how important I believe this programme is - I shall talk about it until I am blue in the face, and would happily relate story after story to any policy maker or funding body. I believe this is some of the most valuable work I have ever done in my life ...
Inspirational!
On Saturday August 1, Rachel will be joined by soprano Nicole Thomson for a program called Bach in the Dark. Held in St James Church Crypt, King Street, Sydney, it will include inventions, airs and music inspired by JS Bach, Perfect Day by Lou Reed (arranged by Ben Sibson), and folk music from around the world. Also included: Don't Let Me Persuade You, or some such title (haven't decided yet) of the recent work Peter Wesley-Smith and I wrote for soprano & cello. Bookings essential - venue has limited seating. Call 02 9943 2077 to reserve your ticket (and to find out what time it starts).
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Monday July 27 2009:
As I reported before, we took Mum - Sheila - to hospital on Saturday morning with heart problems. She hadn't been well for a few days, suffering from breathlessness and a persistent cough. The staff in the Emergency Department at Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital brought her heart rate down from 170 to normal, performed various tests which indicated that she'd had some form of heart attack, and sent her to the cardiac room of Medical Ward A. That evening she was moved into the Intensive Care Unit, for observation. Next morning (yesterday) I had a call from a medical registrar saying that Mum's heart was starting to shut down, and asked what degree of resuscitation did we want should her heart stop altogether. Yesterday morning she was feeling crook, looking terrible, and talking of not wanting to live. We were preparing for the worst. Yesterday afternoon her three grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren came from Sydney to see her (basically to say goodbye), and she immediately perked up. Before long she was sitting up in bed gaily chatting and laughing and looking great. This morning we were told that apart from a pulmonary oedema, which they'd fixed, she was in good health, in good spirits, and was being discharged at 2pm today - amazing! What a difference 24 hours, and good care, and a loving family, have made ...
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Saturday July 25 2009:
I believe I had a first performance tonight! I'm not sure, 'cos I haven't heard that it definitely happened, and although it was broadcast with, I'm told, a live internet feed, we can't get Sydney community radio station 2MBS-FM down here in Kangaroo Valley, and our dial-up internet is far too slow to be able to receive music in real time. It was a short piece for soprano & cello, based on a movement from a Bach cello suite and performed by soprano Nicole Thomson and cellist Rachel Scott.
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For those who know my 93-y-o Mum, Sheila Wesley-Smith, she's currently in Shoalhaven District Hospital, having recently had problems with her heart. She went in this morning and will stay there for a day or two, possibly longer. When I left her this afternoon she was relatively relaxed and comfortable. We're all hoping, of course, that she'll soon be back to her usual chirpy self.
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Monday July 20 2009:
Caught a train to Sydney yesterday for a family function. Because of work on the track, passengers were provided with a bus between Dapto and Central, which was OK except that the bus driver got lost! He eventually found his way, but we arrived nearly half an hour late.
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Excerpts from a letter, dated July 8 2009, from Ms Lynette Wood, Assistant Secretary, Asia, Americas and Trade Branch, Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra, ACT, to Joe Collins of AWPA (Australia-West Papua Association):
As you are aware, the Australian government is committed to the development of Papua and West Papua as stable and prosperous provinces of the Republic of Indonesia, and believes this development can best be achieved through the implementation of the Special Autonomy Law and through respect for human rights. The Government respects Indonesia's territorial integrity, including its sovereignty over Papua and West Papua provinces, and supports Indonesian efforts to improve the political and socio-economic in the Papua provinces.
Consistent with this, Australia does not consider the Pacific Islands Forum an appropriate body to consider issues related to West Papua.
The Australian Government takes seriously reports of alleged human rights violations in West Papua and regularly takes opportunities to encourage the Indonesian government to ensure that the human rights of all Indonesians are respected and perpetrators of abuses are brought to justice. The Australian Embassy in Jakarta monitors developments in West Papua closely, including through regular visits to the region and contact with a range of government and non- government representatives.
Australia also encourages the Indonesian government to allow access to the Papua provinces by independent observers and organisations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and to foreign media representatives with appropriate visas. This is the best way to ensure transparency and that the progress the Yudhoyono government is making to address political, security and economic challenges in Papua and West Papua is better appreciated.
Through our aid program, Australia development assistance to the provinces of Papua and West Papua increased from $10.9 million in 2007-08 to an estimated $13 million in 2009-10, focused on health, HIV/AIDS prevention and local government capacity building.
We "regularly (take) opportunities to encourage the Indonesian government to ensure that the ... perpetrators of abuses are brought to justice"?? Not a single Indonesian army person has been found guilty of any crime associated with the massacres in East Timor between 1975 and 1999, and the army rapes, pillages and murders in West Papua with impunity. Seems that our encouragement hasn't been very effective yet, just as our encouragement of "the Indonesian government to allow access ... to foreign media representatives" has not, so far, produced any results. But we're hoping that if we are terribly nice, and whisper our concerns ever so softly, then one day Indonesia will open up and address the concerns of decent people everywhere.
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Monday July 13 2009:
Have just finished proofing the booklet for a new CD of my chamber music that will be released soon by Tall Poppies Records (TP200). Called Merry-Go-Round, it includes the 2002 piece by that name for clarinet, cello & CD, db, for flute, clarinet, piano, cello & CD (1991), Snark-Hunting, for flute, percussion, piano & cello (1984), Oom Pah Pah, for flute & piano (1996), and two movements of fin/début - tick tock, in which Phyllis Rides Aristotle and pp (Farewell to the Hotel Turismo) - for flute, clarinet, piano & string quartet (2000). The performers are The Australia Ensemble (Geoffrey Collins, flute, Dimity Hall, violin, Catherine McCorkill, clarinet, Irina Morozova, viola, Ian Munro, piano, Dene Olding, violin, and Julian Smiles, cello) with guest artist Timothy Constable, percussion.
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At the end of May I reported that a "large python (had) apparently decided to see out the winter sitting on top of our woodheap". It stayed there for several weeks, but has now moved to the front verandah, living in a tight coil under one of the chairs there and coming out every day when the sun hits the verandah, unravelling itself and luxuriating in the warmth of the sun. It's not in the least concerned about people walking by, nor by Flash, our dog, sniffing it. But our 93-y-o Mum, Sheila, is. In fact she's somewhat put out: she used to sit there herself, every day. She now, understandably, prefers to sit elsewhere.
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from an article by Anthony Deutsch titled Ambushes kill 2 near Freeport's Indonesian mine:
I have no idea who is responsible for the shootings, but I certainly don't accept, at face value, the version presented by "Indonesian authorities". Such incidents are typical of a protection racket, like the one the Indonesian army (the TNI) has been running at the mine for years: they could well have been designed to demonstrate to Freeport the need for yet more expensive "security". Note that the statement "The enforcement of the security must be carried out seriously and professionally" clears the way for even harsher repressive actions against local indigenous communities than they already suffer.
From an article by Padraic Murphy called I saw my mate, Drew Grant, shot to death: Lukan Biggs in today's Herald Sun, Melbourne:
Note how easily the Herald Sun blames "the rebels" before any evidence has been presented that the persons responsible were from the OPM and not from the TNI. No doubt soon the Lombok Treaty - the Agreement between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the Framework for Security Cooperation - will soon be invoked. Article 2, Principles, says:
In other words, watch out. When it comes to appeasing Indonesian generals, we're serious. Despite rhetoric about respecting "domestic laws and international obligations", keeping Indonesia happy trumps the democratic rights of ordinary Australians.
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Sunday July 12 2009:
Yesterday's fatal shooting of a 29-year-old Victorian man, Drew Grant, in West Papua makes one suspect that, as in a similar situation in 2002, Indonesian police or military are behind the killing in order to criminalise the struggle in West Papua and to continue to paint the independence group OPM as terrorists. Mr Grant, an employee at US-based Freeport McMoRan's Freeport gold and copper mine in Timika, was apparently one of six people in a car that was attacked as they travelled on a road between Tembagapura and Timika at 5.30am yesterday morning. He was hit by five bullets. No-one else in the car was injured.
Nick Chesterfield writes:
Business as usual: just as recent research by Eben Kirksey exposed the Australian-USA-Indonesian cover-up of the 2002 Freeport killings, expect the same thing here. Australia will express regret but stress that we must move on. Meanwhile the TNI will remain free to lie and murder with impunity - as it did in East Timor, with Australian complicity.
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Thursday July 9 2009:
I was watching the First Ashes Test (cricket: Australia vs. England) this evening when the camera panned around the crowd to reveal ex-Prime Minister John Howard and his wife enjoying the game. Not only is Howard a war criminal, who invaded Iraq on the basis of lies, but he now travels the world, first class, with all expenses paid by the Australian tax-payer. Why do we let him get away with it?
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Wednesday July 8 2009:
For the past few weeks I've been helping my brother Rob Wesley-Smith build a large covered garden and chook run in the top paddock here. There's a lot more work to be done on it, and I'm yet to plant anything, but it's going to be a marvellous resource. Rob is now driving back to Darwin, a distance of c.4000 km.
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Monday July 6 2009:
Last Saturday's concert by The Idea of North was just about as good as it gets. They flawlessly performed imaginative and complex arrangements, with great panache and good humour. The sell-out crowd thrilled to everything they did, even to the more far-out jazz pieces.
Here's a couple of emailed comments I received:
I'm now organising a couple of concerts for next month: The Seventh Annual Kangaroo Valley Buster Keaton Silent Movie Festival with pianist Robert Constable (7.30pm Sat Aug 15) amd Ireland with soprano Annalisa Kerrigan accompanied by pianist Dean Sky-Lucas and fiddler Clare O'Meara (2.30pm Sun Aug 30). More about these later ...
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Saturday July 4 2009:
Have been busy of late organising tonight's concert by brilliant a cappella vocal jazz quartet The Idea of North, including getting a 30-voice choir together to sing one song with the group. All tickets have been sold, with profits going to The Kangaroo Valley-Remexio Partnership, a local group supporting projects in East Timor.
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Apparently last night's performance in Sydney by Rachel Scott of my piece Uluru Song, for singing cellist, was as wonderful as her other recent performances of it.
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Yesterday I finished the first section of a piece for cello and soprano for Rachel's Bach in the Dark concert series in St James church in Sydney. The soprano will be Nicole Thomson.
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Thursday June 25 2009:
An enthusiastic audience member wrote to cellist David Pereira after his concert last weekend:
I see that a new documentary movie about West Papua will be available for free download from Al Jazeera English on July 2 2009. Called Pride of Warriors, it "tells four personal stories of West Papuan's struggle for freedom. Based on footage smuggled to Australia (it) gives a new perspective on the human rights situation from areas in West Papua never seen on TV before ... All the people that appear in this film have risked persecution for speaking out. However they want their stories to be told ..."
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Sunday June 21 2009:
I was in Canberra last night to hear the premiere of my new piece |
